Transmission



Dec. 10, 1 946. M, G N 2,412,331

TRANSMISSION Filed March 51, 1945 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

Dec. 10, 1946. M. w. GREEN 2,412,331

TRANSMISS ION Filed March 31, 1945 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TOR.

Dec. 10, 1946. ,M. w. GREEN I 2,412,331

TRANSMISSION Filed March 51, 1945 :5 Sheets-Sheet 3 IN V EN TOR.

zuJa/mf Patented Dec. 10,

TRANSMISSION Maurice W. Green, South Bend, Ind., assignor to Bendix HomeAppliances, Inc., South Bend, Ind., a corporation of DelawareApplication March 31, 1945,.Serial No. 585,947

vide a transmission with means to change the gear ratio wherein suchgear ratio change is not primarily dependent upon relative sliding ofgear teeth for effecting gear ratio change and wherein relative slidingof gear teeth on gears while under driving load will be unnecessary.

The above and other objects of the invention will appear more fully fromthe following detailed description and by reference to the accompanyingdrawings forming a part hereof and wherein: v

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view through the transmission and thegearing thereof. t Figure 2 is an end view of the transmission showingthe connection of the operating lever.

Figure 3 is a further view of the operating lever.

Figure 4 is a'plan viewof the pinion member and adjacent shaft portionsparticularly showing the slotted arrangement necessary for operation ofthe speed-changing unit.

Figure 5 is a view and section taken substantially on the line 5-5 ofFigure 1. v

Figure 6 is a view and section taken substantially on the line-66 ofFigure 1. I

Figure f7 is a sectional view on the line 1-1 of Figure 1.

Figure 8 is a sectional view through the clutch taken on the line 8-8 ofFigure 1.

Referring to the drawings, the transmission is carried in a housing lwhich in the preferred embodiment shown is designed to be attached to anelectric motor housing. A power or drive shaft II which may be a motorshaft or other shaft connected to power means has aprojecting endportion l2 preferably of flat side configuration at its end (see Figures1 and 8). Such a shape enables the end l2 of the shaft II. to beslidably but non-rotatably connected to a clutch member I3 and a sleeveH, the center opening in the sleeve 14 and the clutch member l3 being ofsuch shape as to allow sliding movement of the projecting end l2 insleeve l4 when pushed by an abutment l carried on the shaft II, a springIt being interposed between the end of the sleeve l4 and the clutchmember l3. It is apparent that the sleeve I4 and clutch member 7 Claims.(c1. "as-ass) p i3 are capable of being supported on the end of thedriving shaft II. A gear I1 is mounted for free rotation upon the lefthand end of the sleeve I4 as shown in Figure 1. This gear I! is securedto rotate with a drum-shaped clutch member l8 and carried within thisdrum-shaped clutch member are a series of'clutch plates l9 having theircenter portions notched as shown at 20 in Figure 8 so that such clutchplates iii are caused to rotate with the sleeve l4. Between clutchplates l9 clutch disks 22 are provided and because of extensionsprojecting into notches 22a of the drum-shaped clutch member l8-thesedisks 22 are therefore required to rotate with the clutch member Hi. Itis apparent from consideration of the above construction that a movementof the gear I! and the sleeve l4 toward the right will cause the clutchplates l9 carried by sleeve l4 to be brought into contact with disks 22carrled by clutch member l8 and thereby to cause the gear II to beclutched to and secured to rotate with the power shaft I I, whereas ifthe gear l1 and sleeve l4 do not have pressure exerted against them toproduce a movement toward the right as shown in Figure 1, such gear I!and the drum-shaped clutch member l8 will be free to rotateindependently of the sleeve l4 and the shaftll.

In the left-hand end fo the sleeve l4, also having the same flat sidedor other irregular shape, a pinion and shaft member is carried forslidin but non-rotating connection relative to the sleeve, The memberwhich is thus assembled into the end of the sleeve is a pinion and shaftmember 23 and a projecting end 24 is of such shape as to fit into thesleeve in such manner as to rotate with the sleeve M, the member 23 withits pinion and extensions forming what might be termed a sectional shaftportion. The pinion and shaft member 23 (see Figures 1 and 4) hasanother extending portion 25 shown as extending toward the left from thecenter pinion portion in Figures 1 and 4. Thisextending portion 25 iscircular in section and serves as a journal for a-bearing 28 as shown inFigure 1. The shaft extending portion 25 as well as pinion gear 23 has acentral opening 21; shown clotted in Figure 4 and in full lines inFigure 1. an actuating member or pin 28 of such size as to slide axiallyin the central opening 21. In the right-hand projecting end 24, across-slot 29 is provided which meets the opening 21 asshown in Thiscentral opening carries aaiaeai the projecting end 24 before itsassembly into the sleeve l4.

A washer 32 is preferably carried between the cup-shaped member and theend of the sleeve I4 and the gear I! as shown-in Figure 1. For thepurpose of actuating the pin 28 from the outer end of shaft extension 25a. plunger 33 is carried in the housing beyond the left-hand end of thebearing 26, which actuating plunger carries a ball 34 of suchconfiguration and size as to abut against the end of the pin 28extending out from the end of the shaft extension 25. The pin 28 is ofsuch length that it extends through the opening 21 into the slot 29 andinto contact with the cross pin 30. Therefore, when the pin 28 is pushedtoward the right as shown in Figure 1, the cross pin 38 and cup-shapedmember M will afford abutment means between gears 23 and H to push thegear fl and the sleeve it toward the rightagainst action of spring it asviewed in Figure ,1 and cause actuation of the clutch members, carriedwithin the drum member it previously described, thereby to clutch thegear W for rotation with the shaft 9 i. The pin 28 thus provides anactuating member extending centrally through the pinion gear 23 andsectional shaft portion to actuate the clutch to connect the other gearH to the 'drive shaft. Such sliding movement for actuation of the pin 28to efiect this result is accomplished by movement of the ball 34 by theplunger 33. plunger 33, as will be evident onv inspection of Figure 3,is actuated by a lever 36 which lever is in turn actuated by suitablemeans such as an electrical solenoid connected to the resilientlymounted end 31 of the lever 36. The lever 36 is This pivotally mountedat 38 as shown in Figure 3. From the above description, it is apparentthat the actuation of the lever 31 to push-the ball at to the right asshown in Figure 1 will have the result of clutching the gear H to rotatewith the driving shaft l I while a lack of actuation of such lever 36and consequent loose support of'the ball 34 will allow gear I! to rotatefreely relative to ,the shaft II and sleeve l4 and adjacent pinionmember23, the spring I 6 acting to push sleeve l4 toward the left inaxial sliding movement relative to projection 24.

The remaining gears of the transmission necessary to effect a two-speeddrive are carried on a driven shaft 40 which serves as the output shaftof the transmission and has a pulley 4| shown mounted on its outerprojecting end.

Z .Mounted on the driven shaft 40 is a gear 42 which .is keyed to rotatewith the shaft 40 and which meshes with the previously mentioned gearI].

i Also keyed to the shaft 40 is an inner-member scribed are preferablyof the helical type which will produce an end thrust in one direction orthe otherdepending upon the direction of the helix angle relative to therotation. The several gears are provided with helix angles which produceend thrust in the direction as follows: The pair of ears -3 and 45 whichmesh together, have a helix angle of such that with drive on the shaftII and the pinion 23 the endthrust generated will tend to cause thepinion 23 to be pushed toward the left as viewed in Figure 1 when thedrive pinion 23 is rotating in a clockwise direction as viewed in Figure5 and gear 45 thus rotated counterclockwise. However, with the pair ofgears H and 42 the direction of rotation of the gear i? being in aclockwise direction as viewed in Figure 6 and the meshing gear 62 in acounterclockwise, the helix angle for these two gears is in a directionsuch that when power is applied through gear H the end thrust will betoward the right as viewed in Figure .1, while if the power is appliedthrough gear 52 as when gear it is idle and shaft' lfl is driven frompinion 23, the tendency of the component of end thrust created by thehelix. angle will be to slide the gear" ll endwise toward the left ifsuch gear is "freely rotating on the sleeve it as it is when the clutchis not actuated.

For tracing the drive-through the transmission for the two speeds withthe mechanism as shown and previously described, it will first beassumed that the lever 36 is not actuated and the gear ll therefore,unclutched and free to rotate relative to the sleeve it. The sectionalshaft and pinion'Zt will be driven from shaftll and such rotation willbe in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in Figure 5. Such rotationof the pinion 23 will cause clockwise rotation of the gear at as alsoviewed in Figure 5 andsuch clockwise rotation as will be apparent oninspection of Figure' 5 will cause the one-way drive connection rollersdd to be forced to the small end of the operating slots and to drive theinner one-way drive member 48 which is in turn connected to the outputshaft 50. Therefore, by the above mentioned drive fromvshaft ii, pinion23 through gear ed to the shaft 30 there is provided a gear reductioneffected by the pitch diameter ratio between the gear 23 and the gear 65and the speed will be a so-called low speed of the transmission. Duringsuch operation it is apparent on inspection of Figure 1 that the gear d2will also rotate with the output or driven. shaft 630 but will causeidle rotation of the meshinggear ll which is, as before mentioned, freeto rotate on sleeve i4. If it now be assumed that the lever 36 isactuated to push the pin 28 toward the right as shown in Figure 1 tothus also push the cross pin 30 and the adjacent sleeve l4 and gear llthereby to clutch said gear to the shaft ll through clutch l8, then thedrive will be from the shaft ll through the gear H and when such gear isclutched to the shaft ll, then the drive will be through the gear I! tothe gear 42 and out through the shaft 40, this drive being effectedbecause of the fact that the rotation imparted" by the gear ill willcause the shaft 48 to rotate at a faster speed than the rotationimparted through the small pinion 23 and gear 45 because of'the gearratio between gears ll and 42 which are of nearly equal pitch diameterin the; mechanism illustrated. This faster rotation imparted to theshaft 40 will cause the one-way drive con-' nection to be released sincethe tendency will be,

because of the higher speed of the shaft over gear 45, to cause therollers 44 (see. Figure-5) to move to the large end of the slot and theresult will be an idle rotation of the gear 45 and the pinion 23 withoutdriving connection to shaft 40. The result, therefore, is asubstantially higher speed of output shaft 40 than was previouslyeffected when the clutch was not in operation and the drive was throughwe. 23 and .5.

It is important to the satisfactory operation of ating movement of pin28.

this transmission that the previously mentioned end thrust relationshipof the gear pairs 22, and I'L- 42 be maintained as when the solenoid isactuated to push the pin 28 toward the right in Figure 1 to actuate theclutch the fact thatat that time the drive is through the gear pinion 23to the gear 45 will cause the pinion 23 to be pushed toward the left asviewed in Figure 1, that is in the opposite direction from the slidingof the pin 28 to actuate the clutch. Therefore, it will be unnecessaryin the type of transmission here disclosed to slide the pinion 23against its normal end thrust as the clutch actuating pressure .will beapplied through the pin 28. Trans-' missions have been built whichutilize the sliding of a pinion similar to 23 for actuating the clutchin place of the pin 28. However, it is conrelative to said shaft, adrive gear mounted to rotate relative to said sleeve, a clutch membersecured to rotate with said gear, a second clutch ment means betweensaid gears movable in a sidered that the clutch actuation will be morepositive and require less force to operate as well as affording lessinterference with gear drive if the actuation is accomplished by thesliding of the pin without, sliding of the pinion as herein disclosed.It is apparent that if the helix angle were oppositely set so that endthrust would be toward the right in Figure 1, there would be a tendencyof such end thrust to actuate the clutch by sliding of sectional shaftand pinion 23 which would be detrimental if such thrust were large as itmight cause clutch actuation when such result was not desired.

Considering the previously mentioned relation of the helix "angle on thegears l1 and 42, it is evident that before the clutch is actuated bymovement of the pin 28 that the drive causing end thrust on gear ll willbe from gear 42 to gear I! and thus will cause the gear to be normallypushed toward the left away from clutch actuadirection to bring saidclutch members, into engagement to connect said first mentioned ear forrotation with said drive shaft, a spring normally urgingsaid clutchmembers out of engagement, an actuating memberextending through thecentral opening in said pinion gear for moving said abutment member in adirection to bring said clutch members into engagement.

2. In a transmission, a drive shaft, a sleeve mounted for slidingmovement on said drive shaft, a sectional'shaft mounted to be carried bysaid sleeve for rotation therewith and with freedom of limited axialslidingmovement relative .to said sleeve, a pinion mounted for rotationwith said sectional shaft, a gear mounted for rotation around saidsleeve, clutch means for connecting said gear to rotate with said driveshaft on axial movement of said sleeve, and actuating means tion as longas such clutch is out of engagement and such end thrust will tend tokeep the clutch out of engagement, together with the spring pressurefrom the spring l6. However, on sliding movement of the pin 28 towardthe right together with the sleeve l4 and the gear l1 and on the takingup of the drive by gear .ll on contact with the clutch, the end thruston gear II will then be in a direction tending to pull the clutch intoengagement and in this case the end thrust will,-, therefore, assist theholding of the clutch in engagement together with the thrust of the pin28. It is apparent that the end thrust on the gear I! toward the leftduring idling movement of such gear before clutch actuationwill berelatively smalldue to the light load carried. Therefore, neither thepinion gear 23 nor the gear I! will be subjected to axial movement inany material amount during the time that load is being transmittedthrough such gear. That is the movement of pin 28 makes axial sliding ofpinion I2 unnecessary and the end thrust generated causes the pinion tobe held in a maximum position in the direction opposite to the clutchoper- Furthermore, although there is some axial slidingof gear I! thissliding is of material amount only during idle rotation of such gear andwhen the clutch is actuated the axial movement is no longer present.

Although the invention has been illustrated by reference to a specificstructure found practical for actual operation and use, it is evidentand intended that variations may be made without departing from thefundamental principles within the scope of the following claims.

I I claim:

1. In a transmission, a drive shaft, a sleeve mounted to rotate withsaid drive shaft and having limited freedom of axial sliding movementextending through the central portion of said sectional shaft foractuating said clutch from an end of said sectional shaft by movement ofsaid actuating means in one direction-axially of said sectional shaftand pinion, and driving teeth on said pinion having an angled drivingcontact in a direction to produce an end thrust axially of said pinionand sectional shaft in a direction opposite to the direction of movementof said actuating means producing actuation of said clutch.

3. In a transmission, a drive shaft, a pinion gear mounted for rotationwith said drive shaft, a driven shaft, a gear meshing with said pinionand connected .to saidv driven shaft by a one- -way drive connection, asecond gear mounted to rotate relativeto said drive shaft, a gearmeshing with said second gear and secured to rotate with said drivenshaft, a clutch to connect said freely rotating gear to said driveshaft, and means between said freely rotating gear and said pinion forconnecting said gear to the drive shaft, and actuating means extendingthrough the central portion of said pinion for actuating said clutchfrom a position adjacent the outer end of said pinion.

4. In a transmission, a drive shaft, a gear mounted for rotation withsaid drive shaft,'a

second gearmounted on said drive shaft but normally free to rotaterelative thereto, clutch means for connecting said last mentioned gearto rotate with said drive shaft, operating means for said clutchcomprising a member extending through a central portion of said shaftand said first mentioned gear to actuate said clutch, teeth on saidfirst mentioned gear of such angle relative to the rotation of saiddrive shaft as to cause end thrust on said gear to tend to move saidgear in a direction opposite from movement required to produce vactuation of said clutch.

5. In a transmission, a drive shaft, a sectional shaft mounted forrotation with said drive shaft but having freedom of sliding movementaxially of said drive shaft, a sleeve connecting said drive shaft andsaid sectional shaft, a pinion carried by said sectional shaft, agearmounted for freedom of rotation around said sleeve, clutch means forconnecting said gear for rotation with said drive shaft and said sleeve,an operating means for said clutch extending lon itudinally through saidsectional shaft, teeth on said pinion providing end thrust in adirection opposite to the direction oi movement required by saidoperating means to actuate said clutch.

6. In a transmission, a drive shaft, a pinion mounted co-axiallytherewith, a sleeve slidabiy but non-rotatably connected to said shaftand pinion member, a gear freely rotatable on said sleeve, a clutchoperable on longitudinal. movement of said gear and sleeve, actuatingmeans extending centrally through said pinion member and mounted tocause longitudinal movement of said sleeve and gear necessary foractuating said clutch. v

- '1. In a transmission, a drive shaft, a pinion 8 member shaft. apinion member mounted coaxially therewith, a sleeve mounted on andslidably but non-rotatabiy connected to said shaft and pinion member, aBear freely Journaled on said sleeve, a clutch for connecting saidsleeve and gear actuated by longitudinal axial movement of said sleeveand gear, a pin extending longitudinally through the central axisof saidpinion member and mounted for limited longitudinal sliding movement, asecond pin mounted across said pinion member shaft and having its endsforming anabutment for producing axial movement cr -said gear and sleevethereby to actuate said clutch. v

URICE W. GR.

